Frank 1

Well it's all over the Internets, there's a new pope and he's gone all rebel style and everything and called himself Francis I. I don't really keep up on this sort of thing but I think he is the first pope from outside Europe which is maybe why he took a '1' name. Of course the last one to take a '1' name was John Paul I, and he didn't last too long at all, about a month is memory serves, and the Vatican in true Soviet Union style changed all of the details of J.P. I's death so as to not make it so suspicious, which is kind of suspicious in itself. Never-the-less, I am sure that Francis I will make it a little longer than John Paul I did. If he were a real rebel though, wouldn't he take a name like Jesus II? Now that would be news. Not real news of course, but a human interest sort of thing. You know. Like a water-skiing squirrel or something.

Anyway... Humouroceros

A royal salute

Yes the British are considered by many to be 'odd' if not actually 'weird' but this kid has it all figured out. Obviously the first thing you do when meeting royalty is make sure there are no bats in the cave. A clean nose is something that everyone can be proud of while flowers, like the little girl has, will only last a short time then have to get tossed out. Yes, the thought is nice, but really nasal cleanliness is next to cleanly (or 'clean-cut'), at least in my dictionary.

Anyway... Humouroceros

Crock Pottin'

I finally broke down and bought a Crock Pot. A buddy at work couldn't believe that I didn't have one and brought in some pulled pork, which was delish. He told me that he had made it in his Crock Pot, and how easy it had been to make. I hemmed and hawwed, as I do, then I hunted one down and bought the beast. $24.95 plus tax and that very evening I was brewing up my very own pulled pork (heh, funny story: I got the recipe off the Internets. I Googled 'pulled pork' and perused the 10,000,000 returns before deciding on Texas Pulled Pork. I figured that the state in the Union that executed more mentally challenged citizens than any other ought to know it's pulled pork!) Needless to say it was a hit, very popular amongst the highly educated, and in the last six weeks or so I have made different variations of pulled pork three or four times.

Not to be typecast or anything, I have also made chili, stews, and a honey/mustard curried chicken dish that hit the spot all proper and everything. As is becoming increasingly obvious, I am branching out and for tonight I planned a pulled chicken recipe. Once again the Internets were invaluable and I have decided on pulled "barbecued" chicken. It's an easy recipe and I had everything in the house already (except for the chicken), but I noticed one thing. The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of chicken broth. Who has 2 tablespoons of chicken broth in the fridge?

This put me in mind of other recipes I have seen over the years. Recipes calling for a teaspoon of fresh grated lemon rind, say. So I am supposed to buy a lemon so I can grate off a teaspoon of its skin? And what do I do with the rest of the lemon (that's not a good example since I would just make a lemon drink, but I will stick with it.) Recipes that call for small amounts of something that you cannot buy in small amounts is the issue. They bug me. Anyway, I've vented enough and now it is time for the chicken cooking to begin. Yehzzzzz...

Anyway... Humouroceros